UNITED
NATIONS  GENERAL
ASSEMBLY
STATEMENT
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE
FIFTY EIGHT SESSION
OF THE UNITED NATIONS
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
ON THE OBSERVANCE OF WORLD FOOD DAY
AND THE INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR THE ERADICATION OF POVERTY
17 OCTOBER 2003
This
year, the United Nations will observe World Food Day and
the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty on
the same day. In doing so, we acknowledge that the two significant
challenges - eradicating poverty and ending hunger - are
inter-linked, and must be given high priority on national
and international agendas. Leaders of the world, in their
Millennium Declaration, affirmed freedom from hunger as
a priority, confirming the World Food Summit's undertaking
to halve the proportion of people suffering from hunger
by the year 2015. They also committed themselves to taking
effective action against poverty by reducing by half the
proportion of people living on less than $1 a day.
The Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations
(FAO) tells us that the world produces enough food to feed
all its inhabitants; yet some 20,000 people die each day
from hunger-related causes, and six million children under
the age of five die each year of hunger. Currently, an estimated
one-sixth of the world's population is malnourished and
almost fifty per cent of children in South-Central Asia
and Sub-Saharan African are underweight. To meet the Millennium
Development Goal of reducing hunger therefore, we would
have to decrease by thirty-five million each year the 840
million people - 799 million of them in the developing world
- for whom hunger is a persistent part of their daily lives.
If we are to effectively address poverty in all its dimensions
and if we are to meet the Millennium Development Goals,
serious challenges will have to be overcome. A more dynamic
poverty eradication strategy that would place ending poverty
at the core of national development policies is urgently
needed. However, while it may be true that, eradicating
poverty is the primary responsibility of each nation, strengthened
international co-operation and assistance is necessary to
support efforts at national level. Notwithstanding, there
has been modest progress in the fight against poverty,
A key area in which collective responsibility has to be
exercised if we are to reduce poverty and hunger now is
in the mobilization of resources. The World Bank estimates
that the cost of achieving the Millennium Development Goals
is likely to require at least an additional $50 billion
a year, over and above the resources provided by developing
countries themselves. With only 12 more years to go, we
could be running out of time if the resources are not provided
now to enable us to meet the Goal of halving the proportion
of people suffering from poverty and hunger by 2015.
It
is time for us to take action, to make good our promises
and to fulfill our commitments. We have a moral obligation
to join the International Alliance against Hunger, the theme
of this year's World Food Day. Such an alliance of endeavour
will better position people and nations to feed themselves.
It should ensure the required international commitment to
close the gap between rich and poor countries and to eliminate
barriers to trade, increase market access and enhance the
productive capacity of countries, particularly developing
countries, to provide food for the hungry and to achieve
growth and sustainable development. Above all, we must work
to ensure the human dignity that comes with a life free
from hunger and poverty.
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